BANKGESELLSCHAFT Berlin (Ireland) has reported pre-tax profits of £5.7 million in its first year of operation in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre.

The Irish subsidiary of the German publicly quoted banking group employs 13 people, providing international banking, treasury and corporate finance services.

Employment is expected to grow to 20 within a year.

The German group recently opened a second operation in the IFSC. This company, BGB Finance (Ireland), will become the finance and bond issuing vehicle for the group.

It plans to issue a deutschmark bond within weeks and will then set up a Euro Medium Term Note programme.

Bankgesellschaft Berlin (Ireland) had total assets of £542 million at the end of December 1995. Its managing director, Mr David Allen, said he was satisfied with the progress of the bank at this early stage of its development "We intend to build on this solid focus," he said.

The operation got its IFSC licence in December 1994, its banking licence in April 1995 and started trading in the second quarter of last year. It concentrates on large volume, low margin transactions with an average deal size of about 25 million deutschmarks (£10.5 million).

The parent group is the sixth largest bank in Germany and the 50th in the world by asset size. With a market capitalisation of 8 billion deutschmarks, (£3.3 billion) the bank grew from the merger of three Berlin based banks owned by the state of Berlin. The state of Berlin remains the majority shareholder with a 56 per cent share holding.